We've been tracking and updating our iPhone 4S' to each beta of iOS 5.1, and today Apple has pushed out an OTA version of iOS 5.1 Beta 3 (build 9B5141a). The update changes baseband firmware on the 4S to 1.5.04 (from 1.4.00 in iOS 5.1 Beta 2) and also reintroduces the 3G toggle on our AT&T iPhone 4S. This is a very welcome and timely change especially considering that AT&T WCDMA is almost unusable in Las Vegas, making EDGE sometimes the only way to stay connected.

iOS 5.1 B3 Above - And yes, that's AT&T in the Venetian in Las Vegas this very moment.

I'll be testing the heck out of iOS 5.1 B3 to see whether the baseband instability introduced by 1.4.00 has been fixed finally, or whether the problem persists. In the meantime, having the 3G toggle back is a huge breath of fresh air. I'll be updating as necessary.

My 4S goes from about 100% to 95% overnight. It gets better battery life than my 3GS. Maybe she just got a bad phone? I haven't done anything special to my phone, except for turning off push for email. Reply

They didn't give users control of 3G?!?! No wonder people are flocking to android - it's a radio button on my homescreen (a widget) too so I don't even have to drill down into a menu... ok I know I sound like a fanboy - I genuinely don't have irrational hatred of apple but that is baby sitting of the worst kind: "No you can not have control of your phone's radios! You're not old enough to understand it silly!"Reply

The iPhone 4 always had a 3G toggle (and still has it). The iPhone 4S never had a 3G toggle, and now has one. So this is the first time we're *finally* being treated like adults and able to control WCDMA or EDGE on the iPhone 4S.

My latest conspiracy theory is that they disabled the 3G toggle because *surprise* MDM6610 does not support Rx diversity on GSM/EDGE. (aka, it deathgrips just like the 4 on GSM/EDGE).

It's not about Apple saying 'you're not old enough to understand it' - it was an oversight An oversight which has been duly corrected. It has existed on previous models for a long time.

As for having a toggle on the homescreen, I guess you could say that Apple assumes most of its users have better things to do with their home screen then to toggle 3G on or off. An assumption with which I concur.Reply

Apple had allowed ATT users to toggle 3G on and off until the introduction of the 4S. It seems as though a -bug-/oversight in iOS, due to the single handset for all carriers (GSM/CMDA) created the issue.

Most, if not all, iPhone 4 users still had the ability to toggle 3G on and off on ATT, just the 4S users (myself included) were stuck for a bit.

Still, we don't have a cool widget to toggle it on and off with though, now that it's back. Reply